Good morning gang.

It's bitter cold this morning temps in the single digits with a wind chill in the negative area code. We should be sunny today but highs are only expected to reach the teens.

Word of the Day Tuesday, November 18, 2014


star-crossed \ STAHR-krawst, -krost \, adjective;

1. thwarted or opposed by the stars; ill-fated: star-crossed lovers.

Origin:

The earliest citation of star-crossed comes from William Shakespeare in the late 1500s, although the word star had been used to refer to celestial bodes that exercised influence on human affairs as early as the 1200s. By the 1600s, star had an expanded sense of "a person's destiny, fortune, temperament, etc., regarded as influenced and determined by the stars."

Today is NATIONAL VICHYSSOISE DAY

November 18 celebrates a cold soup that is loved by many, it is National Vichyssoise Day.

Made thick with pureed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream and chicken stock and traditionally served cold, Vichyssoise is sometimes eaten hot.

In the United States, Vichyssoise is pronounced: vish – e – swaz.

Culinary historians debate the origin of Vichyssoise however, the man most credited with the (re)invention of the soup is French chef Louis Diat. Back in 1950, New Yorker Magazine interviewed Diat, who was the chef at the Ritz Carlton in New York City; he told them:

” In the summer of 1917, when I had been at the Ritz seven years, I reflected upon the potato and leek soup of my childhood which my mother and grandmother used to make. I recalled how during the summer my older brother and I used to cool it off by pouring in cold milk and how delicious it was. I resolved to make something of the sort for the patrons of the Ritz.”

Recipes have been found for a soup, very similar to Vichyssoise but served hot, dating back as far as 1869.

Enjoy the following “tried and true” Vichyssoise” recipe:
http://www.starchefs.com/cook/recipe/ ... -chilled-leek-potato-soup

NATIONAL VICHYSSOISE DAY HISTORY

Within our research, we were unable to find the creator and origin of National Vichyssoise Day, an “unofficial” national holiday.

MICKEY MOUSE BIRTHDAY

“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

—Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954

Mickey Mouse is a funny animal cartoon character and the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928. An anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves, Mickey has become one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world.

Mickey first was seen in a single test screening (Plane Crazy). Mickey officially debuted in the short film Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including The Band Concert (1935), Brave Little Tailor (1938), and Fantasia (1940). Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey’s cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively as a comic strip character. His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books and in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996) and others. He also appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising, and is a meetable character at the Disney parks.

Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck, and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others. Originally characterized as a mischievous antihero, Mickey’s increasing popularity led to his being rebranded as an everyman, usually seen as a flawed, but adventurous hero. In 2009, Disney began to re-brand the character again by putting less emphasis on his pleasant, cheerful side and reintroducing the more mischievous and adventurous sides of his personality, beginning with the video game Epic Mickey.
Origin

Concept art of Mickey from early 1928; the sketches are the earliest known drawings of the character, from the collection of The Walt Disney Family Museum.
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”

—Walt Disney, Disneyland; October 27, 1954
Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz, a film producer who distributed product through Universal Studios.[4] In the spring of 1928, with the series going strong, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. But Mintz instead demanded that Walt take a 20 percent budget cut, and as leverage, he reminded Disney that Universal owned the character, and revealed that he had already signed most of Disney’s current employees to his new contract. Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff, but determined to restart from scratch. The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark, who together with Wilfred Jackson were among the few who remained loyal to Walt. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

Origin

In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. (A male frog, also rejected, would later show up in Iwerks’ own Flip the Frog series.) Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. “Mortimer Mouse” had been Disney’s original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be. The actor Mickey Rooney claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him. This claim however has been debunked by Disney historian Jim Korkis, since at the time of Mickey Mouse’s development, Disney Studios had been located on Hyperion Avenue for several years, and Walt Disney never kept an office or other working space at Warner Brothers, having no professional relationship with Warner Brothers, as the Alice Comedies and Oswald cartoons were distributed by Universal.

The article provided by Wikipedia – find more information about Mickey Mouse by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse

Mba'ẽichapa ndepyhareve

Greetings! Frigid here, but not quite as cold as they were expecting. At this point it doesn't matter much. No yard work, though.

Have a good day, Gurus!

Cold and sunny here but may get to 30 today....we should cook some stakes out on the grill if that happens...

Just klunking away at stuff trying to sell but farmers are grumpy due to cold weather and poor corn prices.....

My head cold is getting better but I am staying in a lot and not going out with wet hair....which would freeze in 30 seconds out there right now....

Have a safe day Guru's......

....so much for my purdy floor....the ravages of winter...

50 right now in the 70s later

Good Morning CGs!

Got the kids up and ready this morning. Took the tall skinny one to school and it was a whopping 11 degrees out. Brrr. Came home and got to work in the garage, rearranging and cleaning. Moved a bunch of kids toys to the basement so there is finally room to park both cars. The basement is an even bigger mess now, so that will be addressed later.

With rr#2 at gymnastics now. After that is a shoulder workout and more cleaning before wifey gets home from work. She wants chicken legs off the grill for dinner so that will be a chilly cookoff

Hope everyone has a great day!

Matthew

SUNNY AND COLD, 19 THIS MORNING BUT MAY WARM UP TO 40. DARLING WIFE OVER AT OKMULGEE GRANDMA'ING SO BREAKFAST FOR ME AT THE BOOMERANG GRILL.

HVAC CONTROL ON THE BUMBLEBEE GONE NUTS AGAIN THIS MORNING. DID THIS ONCE BEFORE ON A REALLY COLD MORNING AND THEN WHEN I STARTED IN TO GET IT FIXED ON A WARMER MORNING IT WORKED OK. NOW IT'S SQUIRRELY AGAIN THIS MORNING. I DO SO LOVE ELECTRONIC CONTROLS :-(

What I wouldn't give to be on a warm beach sunbathing somewhere...
Alas instead I woke up to 18 degree weather, due to be I think 48 tomorrow then 60 then back down again. What keeps me from being sick who knows. This is Arkansas.
Busy day at the shop yesterday, a pile of wraps to work on at the graphics job today. Gotta make that fiddy cent....
And I've found myself with a new "pen pal" if you will that is much older than me, that wants to send me Iraqi Dinars whatever their currency is worth, isn't much but possibly expected to be, sent me a restaurant gift card, wants me to go on a cruise and have my own room of course, tried to look up the tanning salon where I live and purchase me a package - I already have one, etc... he is not interested in remarrying - he says - I have expressed that I'll be happy to be his friend and he can keep his gifts to himself, no need to send me stuff it makes me feel weird and I feel "obligated" and I am uncomfortable with it.
what am I to do with this??? He is a very nice person and I do not wish to hurt anyone's feelings, he seems like a very nice person thus far. He says he is a born again Christian and wants to bless people.
Happy Tuesday y'all.

I'd be weary of those "gifts", Letty.

I guess my post from this afternoon never made it.....I'm beginning to feel like Marcus. It was a busy day, starting with a meeting at 7:15, then right into the kids where I was running like a chicken with my head cut off. Then as soon as I got home, we jumped in the car and headed off to watch #2 GS play his first b-ball game. Made the hour drive in 48 minutes. They lost on a last second shot....good game though. GS played pretty well for an 8th grader. And a huge improvement over last year.